Details On The New Album "The Singularity (Phase I: Neohumanity)" Revealed By Scar Symmetry

Sweden's Scar Symmetry posted details on the band's upcoming new release "The Singularity (Phase I: Neohumanity)." The album is the first in a trilogy concept album series and is set for release on October 3rd (EU), October 6th (UK & France) and October 14th (US) via Nuclear Blast Records.

Guitarist/keyboardist/composer Per Nilsson explains how the idea came about: "Last year, Henrik [Ohlsson, drums] approached me with this super cool lyrical concept, that was so complex and vast in scope that we realized it was a story that couldn't be told in just one album. So, the decision was made: instead of writing a new album, we started working on a trilogy of albums - the most ambitious project of our career.

Nilsson goes on to explain the concept: "In the coming decades we will see the rise of artificial intelligence and transhumanism. Humanity will build artilects (artificial intellects) with mental capacities far above the human level of thought. By the year 2030, one of the world's biggest industries will be "artificial brains," used to control artilects that will be genuinely intelligent and useful. Millions of people will be prepared to spend more money on an artilect than on a car.

"So in about a decade there will be a thriving artificial brain industry, and nearly everyone will have an artilect which will be upgraded every two or three years. Each new artilect generation will be smarter and more useful than the previous generation, so that as the gap between the human intelligence level and the artificial intelligence level gets smaller every year, the species dominance debate will increase. There will be those who embrace the new technology and those who oppose it. There will also be those who add artilectual components to their own bodies, aiming to become artilect gods themselves.

"The rise of the artilects and cyborgs will be disruptive to human culture, creating alienation and hatred. Children infused with artilectual nanotechnology and components will become dead to their parents as they see their offspring turn into cyborgs because they are no longer human, but an artilect in human disguise. Those who oppose the cyborgs and artilects will have to strike early in the oncoming conflict or they will be overthrown by the superior artificial species.

"Add to this the advances in cryonics and cloning where minds can be downloaded and uploaded into eternal physical life and we see a very different reality emerge on earth.

"The singularity is here, technocalypse and cybergeddon emerges!"

The track listing for "The Singularity (Phase I: Neohumanity)" is:

1. The Shape of Things to Come2. Neohuman3. Limits to Infinity4. Cryonic Harvest5. The Spiral Timeshift6. Children of the Integrated Circuit7. Neuromancers8. Technocalyptic Cybergeddon